Don McLaughlin On Leadership

My family and my church. My parents and my wife, along with my former pastors, Sunday School teachers, youth leaders and our whole church had a great influence on me.

How did their influence shape your leadership style?

They always promoted the mentality of others first. This fits right in to the Servant Leadership style, which is about “we” not about “me.” It’s about getting things done in an organization not just through me but through the entire team.

They influenced me to be a good listener. They encouraged me to rely on persuasion instead of positional authority, although positional authority has its place.

They modeled the right thing, and that led to me being principle driven. My wife is principle driven; she has been a great person to help keep me out of the ditch. This mentality plays out in every part of my life: work, home, church, community, etc.

Sometimes what we call principles are what some call preferences. But they are not the same. Principles don’t change. My principles are based on the Word of God, and everyone doesn’t understand that in the workforce. But they do understand principles. If you know what your principles are, you will operate according to those principles.

I have found that there are some things that always work:

Always treat people with respect, even if you don’t agree with them.

Adopt a long-run mentality, not a short run mentality. It is not always comfortable in the short run; but always focus on what is best in the long run.

What has been the most challenging about being a leader?

Leading others through change during an era of mergers and takeovers has been like an emotional roller coaster.

Leading people through change with this aggressive technology over the last 25 years.

Learning and understanding technology while encouraging others to do so was challenging. I went from a manual process to a fully automated process.

What has been the most rewarding about being a leader? ﻿

Being around people, helping them be successful in their career and personal life.

Doing the right thing even when it was difficult decision at the time but it was the best for both parties. Example: having to let someone go.

What advice would you give (emerging and experienced) leaders today?

Emerging – Do the blocking and tackling very well. Being successful is coming up with good ideas, but most overlook the simple things. Have a sense of urgency, communicate, follow-up, understand the goals of the organization and share with people on a consistent basis. If a leader does that very well, they will cover a large part of their job.

This is a work issue: humility is a strength. It will carry you a long way. Pride never leads to success. It’s not just a spiritual thing, it’s an everyday thing.

Experienced – Stay up with the times. Stay abreast of changes: both in the marketplace and internal to your organization.

A leader doesn’t have to know how to do everything that people who report to them know. Second, you still have to lay out clear expectations for people and talk about them often. Those things never change.

Don's Top Picks

I am always fascinated by the traits that leaders rank as most important. So, as I interviewed Don to write "Don McLaughlin On Leadership," I just had to get his thoughts on the following:

Your story will appear on a Web page exactly the way you enter it here. You can wrap a word in square brackets to make it appear bold. For example [my story] would show as my story on the Web page containing your story.

TIP: Since most people scan Web pages, include your best thoughts in your first paragraph.